


Jealous of that Sweater

by AlekWalker



Category: Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: #fydlexchange, Darcy Stark, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-13
Updated: 2016-02-13
Packaged: 2018-05-20 01:00:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,717
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5986900
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlekWalker/pseuds/AlekWalker
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Darcy Stark was a top notch people wrangler. . .on most occasions. She could wrangle Gods, Archers, Stealthy Spies, Small Angry Scientists, Pantsless Scientists, Doctors with anger management issues with a love of green tea and even on occasion her father.</p><p>The biggest question she faced today however was could she distract a former brainwashed Soviet assassin long enough for Tony to fix his malfunctioning arm? And possibly even wrangle herself a date with the man who'd haunted her dreams since youth?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Jealous of that Sweater

**Author's Note:**

> So for the Darcyland Galentine’s Gift Exchange I got @Gladheonsleeps. Who gave me a choice of four pairings, I chose to work with Darcy/Bucky. Of the tropes given I decided to work with the Darcy Stark one and try the Badass Women one too. They also requested to see Intelligent Jane, Badass Pepper, Cuddly/Protective Natasha and brotp Steve & Darcy. I hope I’ve done this justice and that they enjoy!

Darcy was officially out of fucks. She literally had no more fucks left to give today. Standing in the doorway to the lab Jane, Bruce and Tony shared, Darcy huffed irritably, her hand rising to pinch her nose. Dum-E was currently rolling around the lab, his claw occupied by a fire extinguisher as the bot worked to put out the smouldering mass in the center of the room.

“Friday? Where are the boffins currently?” Darcy asked wearily, as she moved to grab another extinguisher for Dum-E as he rolled towards her chirping agitatedly.

“Dr Foster left the lab approximately fifteen minutes ago with Thor,” the AI chimed dreamily before continuing “Dr Banner and Sir left five minutes ago for tea and coffee respectively.”

Darcy sighed, how in the hell was she going to explain  _ this _ to Pepper. She’d only been gone a few minutes; she’d just had to make an emergency run to the supermarket after discovering  _ someone _ had eaten the last of Jane’s favorite poptarts.

Looks  _ could _ be deceiving, especially in Jane’s case. She might be small, dainty, petite, whatever you wanted to call her, but if you crossed her or took her stuff without permission she’d put that intelligent brain to good use.

Darcy still occasionally cackled over Jane’s retribution for Barton drinking the  _ last _ of her good coffee. The astrophysicist had whipped up (out of scraps lying around the lab, mind you) an extremely powerful electromagnet and had with Thor’s help installed it discreetly in the shooting range.

Jane had even managed to convince Friday to inform her the next time Barton went to use the range, Darcy still wasn’t entirely sure  _ how _ that had happened. Friday was still in technical terms an infant, she struggled trying to run all the Tower’s systems and there had been more than one incident of systems crashing so in the end the young AI had been relegated to running the labs, shooting range and residential floors.

Tony had with some assistance from Vision then worked on a new AI he’d designated A.N.N.A, who upon completion became responsible for the heavy lifting in the day to day operations of the Tower and the Avengers.

It was definitely time for Darcy to have a discussion with her father about relegating FRIDAY out of the labs and bringing ANNA in to handle the heavy lifting, ergo to wrangle the scientists when Darcy was out of the building.

Turning on her heel Darcy stormed back out of the lab with the intention of going looking for her reckless genius of a father. She’d taken one step before fully completing her turn only to find herself staring at the familiar logo of the Black Sabbath t-shirt which her father at times seemed to live in.

“ _ That _ is all  **your ** fault!” Darcy growled while waving one hand back towards the lab.

She was aware of Bruce moving closer to peer into the lab even as Tony looked over her shoulder at the chaos ensuing in the lab.

“Tony…..was  _ that  _ even combustible?” Bruce asked wearily, cleaning his glasses absently on the front of his shirt.

“I didn’t  _ think _ so?” Tony replied to Bruce before looking back down at his fiery daughter asking “Wait….you blame me for  _ that? _ ”

“I blame you for  _ everything _ ! You’re like my go-to blame guy for disasters that are  _ not _ Jane-related, Dad,” Darcy snapped, her hands flying to rapidly smack at her father’s chest in irritation, god only knew how many extinguishers Dum-E had gone through. Those things were  _ expensive _ . “And you are totally explaining this to Pepper.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bucky was standing in the elevator behind Steve, the blanket around his shoulders pulled tightly around him. He still wasn’t used to being safe, to being around people and would much rather barricade himself in Steve’s apartment, but unfortunately his arm had entirely other ideas. The metal limb had started continuously whirring and on occasion was seizing up, so he finally caved in to Steve’s request to let Howard Stark’s son take a look.

When the elevator finally stopped he moved hesitantly out of the car after Steve. They moved down the corridor in long, quick strides, Bucky’s blue eyes occasionally sweeping the glass-enclosed offices. As Steve stopped suddenly Bucky walked into his back, he’d been about to ask what was going on when he heard Steve’s soft huff of breath.

It was a sound Bucky was sorely familiar with, the sound he’d heard from Steve a  _ lot _ during the war; usually when they caught up with Howard and he’d start sharing stories of Peggy’s antics while they were off fighting Nazis. He’d heard it more recently, too. When Steve was talking him down from one of his panic attacks; stories of the old days made it worse, they’d soon discovered, so Steve started talking about little things from the modern days. Mundane stuff, like how different the food tasted and how much the world had changed during their long sleeps.

That fond, but exasperated huff had escaped Steve more than once when he was telling Bucky about his friend Darcy.  From some of the stories Steve had told him Darcy sounded  _ exactly _ like a modern day version of Peggy.

Bucky stepped out from behind Steve, following Steve’s line of sight he saw a trio standing ahead just outside of a lab. Bruce and Tony he recognised immediately, the five foot three brunette currently smacking Tony senseless however not so much.

He couldn’t stop the low whistle that slipped free of his lips as she shoved Tony back against the wall. Bumping Steve with his shoulder Bucky whispered “That’s a helluva gal, Punk.”

“You have  _ no _ idea, Buck. Darce can be a handful, did I tell you she tased Thor the first time she met him?” Steve said as he started to make his way along the hall once more.

“Not that I can recall, sounds like it’d be a helluva story though,” Bucky chimed in as he fell into step beside Steve.

When they stopped by the trio Bucky felt one of his eyebrows twitch over the sight of the short, curvaceous brunette pinning Tony against the wall and reading him the riot act, it reminded him so much of Peggy and Howard.

“Eh, Punk? What is it with Stark men infuriating curvy, badass brunettes?” Bucky blurted suddenly drawing the attention of the two aforementioned people. Bright blue eyes stared up at him from behind black rimmed glasses and he suddenly felt as though he’d just stuck his foot in his mouth.

“ _ That _ I’m going to take as a compliment. Even if I’m not sure what to think about a virtual stranger admiring my curves,” Darcy sassed, her hands settling on her hips drawing Bucky’s gaze south. “Hey, my eyes are up here buster, I’d appreciate it if you could look into them.”

His eyes darted back up to Darcy’s, blinking rapidly as he licked at his suddenly dry lips. He found it strange that he was suddenly, irrationally, jealous of Darcy’s sweater, of the way the soft wool clung lovingly to her breasts. “Ahh, it was. Intended to be a compliment, in a roundabout kinda way. It reminded me of some old friends.”

It was almost impossible to miss the way her blue eyes glinted up at him with humor before they flicked across to Tony as she chimed cheerfully “You hear that Dad, I’m in Great Aunt Peggy’s calibre of Stark handling!”

“Barnes! She  _ really _ didn’t need any more encouragement to follow in Peggy Carter’s footsteps, it was bad enough Spangles there telling her stories about Peggy’s antics, I don’t need you encouraging her further,” Tony sighed, reaching up to pinch the bridge of his nose as he scowled at him, Steve and lastly Darcy. “I already have one badass lady in my life, I don’t need my daughter becoming the second coming of Peggy Carter.”

“Daughter?” Bucky stammered, his brain whirling at the revelation.  _ Had Steve mentioned that? _

“She could have worse examples to take after Tony, like you and Howard for example,” Steve supplied with a cheeky grin that had Bucky’s mouth twitching into a semblance of a grin.

“Hey, low blow there Spangles,” Tony groused at the exact same time Darcy burst into a joyous laugh.

“You’ve got to admit Tony, you and Howard aren’t exactly the best role models,” Bruce said casually as he made his way past the group and back towards the elevator.

Before anyone else could get out another scathing remark on the history of the Stark family lives a loud grating whir started from beneath the blanket around his shoulders.

Throwing the blanket to the floor as the whirring grew louder, Bucky winced as his arm sparked the jolt running through the internal wiring and registering as pain through his nervous system.

Unlike the previous times his malfunctioning arm had done this, the pain didn’t ease off this time causing Bucky to grunt and grimace as the plates of his arm clicked and whined as they tried to shift.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Boy was Darcy ever thankful for super soldier strength. One minute she’d been standing there wide eyed, as Steve’s childhood friend grunted and grimaced in what she assumed was pain and in the next his taller, bulkier frame had been falling towards her.

It had only been Steve’s fast reflexes and, you know, the aformentioned super strength that had stopped Darcy from being pancaked under the five foot eleven, muscled, gorgeous goodness that was James Buchanan Barnes. Honestly, she wasn’t all that sure if she was regretful of that, though. Lying underneath Bucky could be, well...yeah, she could go for that.

She knew her history, had studied anything and everything she could get her hands on about the Howling Commandos after learning of her grandfather’s association with them. Bucky Barnes and Steve Rogers had always been close, they were virtually brothers from what she gathered from old interviews she’d read and stories Steve had shared whenever he’d been in the Tower.

Bucky had always secretly been her favourite, she’d hung on her Great Aunt Peggy’s every word when she was regaling her with stories of Captain America and the Howling Commandos. She’d cried, literally full-on howling sobs with tears streaming down her cheeks at the tale of Bucky’s demise. And when they’d found out Bucky had survived, realised what Hydra had been doing to him for all those years - she hadn’t wanted to come out of her room for a week.

Darcy shook her head, pulling herself out of her thoughts in time to see Steve hauling Bucky into the lab; thankfully the smaller of the two labs and therefore not the one that had previously been smoldering. Moving to follow after the trio Darcy spared a glance through the glass into the larger lab and winced; yep she  _ definitely _ wasn’t explaining to Pepper  **_or_ ** Jane why the large lab looked like a winter wonderland.

Darcy entered the lab just then to see her father poking at the arm and Bucky’s whole body tight against the action. “Dad! What the hell are you doing?”

“What does it look like I’m doing?”

“Ignoring the fact that Tall, Dark and Luscious is in so much pain, he’s completely incapable of appreciating my girls?”

There was a blatant roll of the genius’ eyes as he straightened, arms folded across his chest. “And what do you suggest?”

Giving her father a small smirk, she smarmed, “Stand back, Dad . . . let the Master work.”

“You say that as though I didn’t teach you half of what you know.”

“You barely taught me an eighth of what I know Dad, so shut up.”

Fortunately for everyone involved, Darcy had been paying attention to Bucky, and was watching the way the former assassin ping-ponged back and forth between the father-daughter duo. He was already starting to straighten out, though the tight lines at the corners of his eyes were clear indications that his pain was still there, but no longer his only focal point. Whirling on Steve, she winked, “So what do you think, Cap? Do I have your permission to distract your Army Buddy with my God-given, Darcy Stark charm?”

“Have at it, Darce,” he agreed with a chuckle. Glancing over at Bucky, he joked, “This should be good.”

“Don’t knock it, Cap . . . just watch me flaunt it.”

Shaking her hands as she stepped back to give herself a little room Darcy winked at no one in particular before launching into the Star Spangled Man routine from Steve’s old USO tours. She took more than a little pleasure in watching the color gradually flushing Steve’s face, it had started with a pink tinge to his cheeks and ended with his whole face scarlet.

As Steve spluttered helplessly in embarrassment it was the deep, husky chuckle that drew her attention back to Bucky. It started out a low rumble that grew into a full blown belly chortle. Grinning, Darcy sauntered over to the workbench Bucky was seated on and hopped up to sit beside him, nudging his flesh arm as she mock whispered “I think I broke Steve.”

Darcy made a slight gesture with her hand, an indication to her father to do what he needed to while she had Bucky’s attention. She caught the barest glimpse of her father rolling forward on one of his stools, required  tools already in hand. Considering his talent for blowing shit up,  she also sent up a silent prayer this would not be the kind of procedure which would require Dum-E’s version of assistance.

“Eh, the Punk will get over it . . . eventually. I don’t think he expected to ever see or hear that again, Doll,” Bucky said cheekily, lightly nudging Darcy back. “You’d have made a helluva USO girl back in our heyday.”

“Geez, you talk as though you’re a ninety-five year old heading for the graveyard,” Darcy raised a hand as Bucky opened his mouth to reply and continued “Yes, yes I  _ know _ that technically the two of you are in your nineties, but essentially with how long you were both frozen you’re both not that much older than me really.”

“If she’d have been in my show, I’d have been tripping over my own feet,” Steve stammered, still flustered and embarrassed by the startlingly accurate rendition of his USO act Darcy had just pulled off.

“You used to trip over your own feet at the sight of any dame pre-serum, Punk; you only got worse after the serum, especially around Carter,” Bucky shifted his gaze from his red faced brother-in-arms to Darcy, giving her a wink as he tacked on cheekily “I swear he chased after her like a puppy with his tongue lolling out.”

Darcy snorted with barely contained laughter as Steve’s cheeks darkened again, shaking her head slightly as she teased “I always thought he reminded me of a puppy, between him and Thor I could never decide who was the Labrador and who was the Golden Retriever.”

“Stevie is definitely the Golden Retriever, he’s loyal to a fault and was always picking fights out of his weight division,” Bucky admitted, his tone sounding a little off even to his own ears as he remembered the long ago past.

“Come on guys, stop comparing me to a dog,” Steve muttered almost petulantly as he crossed his arms over his chest, lower lip jutting out and blue eyes downcast slightly.

“Ugh, stop  _ that _ ! You’re making me feel like I just kicked a damn puppy,” Darcy groaned while throwing her head back to look at the ceiling.

“Yeah, he  _ always _ knew how to work the guilt angle to get what he wanted. Always had his Ma and my sister Rebecca wrapped around his little finger,” Bucky huffed before following Darcy’s lead to stare up at the ceiling.

“Didn’t hear you complaining Buck, when it usually got us free pie,” Steve said cheekily, tone uncharacteristically brash, enough so Darcy had to turn back back to take in his toothy grin.

“Oh my god,  _ how _ did I not see that side of you before now?” Darcy asked, stunned, as Steve shrugged while Bucky chuckled softly.

“He ain’t all apple pie, truth and justice, Doll. He lied on his enlistment forms...what was it? Four  times?” Bucky turned his gaze to Steve whose ears tinged red again as he coughed and suddenly turned his attention to the blank ceiling, mumbling out the answer, “Five.”

“We’ve all broken the rules at  _ least _ once, I got caught shop lifting when I was twelve,” Darcy admitted sheepishly with a shrug before suddenly realising she had two pairs of wide blue eyes staring at her. “What? Don’t look at me like that! I was in a rebellious phase and trying to get some parental attention. Instead I wound up adopting a competent, level headed woman as a mother figure who taught me most of what I know about people handling.”

Everyone jumped slightly as Tony suddenly pushed himself back from the workbench, tools clattering as they landed on top haphazardly.  “And we’re all done here…..I think? If you have any further problems let me know.” 

At which, almost as if on cue, the door to the smaller lab slid open to reveal a visibly upset Pepper Potts, badass woman that she was and the only woman who could keep Tony Stark on his best behavior. “Do I want to even  _ ask  _ what happened in the other lab?” Pepper sighed irritably as her hands settled on her hips.

“Don’t look at me; I was out buying Poptarts to stop Jane from starting another prank war,” Darcy piped up.

“Who ate the last of her Poptarts? Didn’t we all learn from Clint’s experience when he drank the last of her coffee?” Pepper asked incredulously.

To which Darcy shrugged while slipping off the workbench, though it didn’t escape her notice that her father had slouched on his stool and was trying to wheel himself discreetly towards the other exit.

“Dad! Please tell me you didn’t. You of all people should know how Jane gets about her stuff, how many times did she beat you over the head with her journal for trying to improve her equipment?” Darcy groaned.

“I lost count?” Tony admitted rubbing unconsciously at the back of his head as though the mere mention of the event in question him caused phantom pain.

Darcy blinked at that admission, glancing at Pepper who was also blinking owlishly. The two women shared a bemused look between them, before Darcy blew out an exasperated breath and muttered, “I swear only the women in this family get any form of common sense and self preservation, while the males seem naturally talented at turning just about anything into an explosive. Case in point my easy bake oven that I got for my sixth birthday.”

Shaking her head slightly Darcy decided to let Pepper handle this situation, she didn’t need the extra stress in her life right now. Starting towards the door she started past Bucky only to pull to a stop as strong, calloused fingers closed lightly around her wrist. Turning towards the hand’s owner, she cocked her head slightly when Bucky started to stammer nonsensically.

She caught the odd word here and there, but it wasn’t until she heard  _ go out _ more than once that she had an inkling of what the infamous ladies man was trying to ask. Darcy didn’t feel right about making the poor man squirm - he had undoubtedly been traumatised more than enough for one lifetime - and elected to take pity on him as she inquired quietly, “Wanna go have a cup of Jane’s least favorite coffee with me?”

Bucky’s shoulders relaxed almost instantly, not that Darcy had noticed how stiff they’d been before; she wasn’t ogling him or anything like that at the moment . . . honest . . . well, mostly honest. And while the smirk that curved his lips did happy things to her insides, she was fairly certain she was the only one who felt as though the temperature in the room had risen by a degree or two.

“How ‘bout we avoid Jane’s coffee altogether and instead go to that little cafe down the road Steve’s always bragging about?” Bucky offered, a heavy trace of Brooklyn drawl in his voice.

“Oh, the one where he goes to  _ not _ watch a certain blonde haired waitress?” Darcy couldn’t help teasing as she glanced back over her shoulder at Steve, blush reigniting in his cheeks as he scratched at the back of his head, even as she continued still addressing to Bucky. “I keep telling him to just ask her out already, Beth is nice and ever so sweet. And I’m pretty sure she’s giving him extra large servings of pie.”

“Well he neglected to tell me about  _ that _ ,” Bucky said curiously as he stared at Steve over the top of Darcy’s head.

“I….uhm...errr…” Steve stammered haplessly, one hand lifting to scrub at the back of his neck before he finally managed to mutter “I forgot I was supposed to meet Natasha . . . to, uh, spar.”

Darcy’s eyebrows shot upwards as she watched Steve flee from the lab like the hounds of hell were hot on his tail, though if he was fleeing in Natasha’s direction he had some sense at least. If Natasha liked you, she tended to be rather cuddly and protective, willingly going to the ends of the earth to do what was necessary to keep what she cared for safe.

“Well, Sergeant Barnes, as loathe as I am to see that magnificent chest hidden behind worthless cotton, getting dressed is probably a good idea if we are planning to head out. Otherwise I’ll probably find myself needing to use my taser to ward off the mobs of adoring women.” Darcy teased, her attention turning back to Bucky as her eyes roamed pointedly over his chest. “I don’t think I need to say this either, but I will confess that I am going to be hella jealous of that shirt.”

“That’s okay Doll, I’m jealous of that sweater,” Bucky rumbled while running an appraising eye over Darcy.

Smirking Darcy struck a pin up pose while teasing playfully, “Well then . . . I think we’re both gonna have to do something about that . . . won’t we?”


End file.
